Local birthday, local food.

And now on to the good stuff – this past weekend we celebrated Chef C’s birthday.

I won’t out his age here, lest to say that he has (and will continue) to age gracefully, while I linger just a little bit longer by the “wrinkle free creams” and am actually starting to pay attention to just how much “fillers” cost (and I worry about the hormones in my chickens – don’t worry, I hear you laughing). 

Now, I know this blog should focus on politics and food, but I’m going to try and pull a fast one, and talk about the politics of food.  By now you can guess that I try and watch what I put in my mouth, and that I care if things are laden with hormones and over sprayed with pesticides.  And because I care, Chef C cares.  And believe you me – it is never easy taking a Chef out to dinner. Ever.  Because the minute you tell them, they’re on the web researching menus, digging for information and critiquing the food. And I haven’t even ordered yet.  It’s a way to measure how you cook; how you season, techniques on browning, semi vs demi glazes – you get the picture. So choosing a restaurant for his birthday was a bit of an undercover job.  But I did it! I beat the odds and I came up with a winner.

I took my hubby to Chives Canadian Bistro – a wonderful bistro, with a fantastic reputation in Halifax’s gong-show restaurant scene, and a very well respected Chef and Proprietor.  And still, I was nervous.  Because what if he didn’t like it? What if he spent the whole meal wishing a salt-lick was beside our table? Serious things one needs to consider.  So I kept the whole thing a surprise, and didn’t let him know where were going until we parked the car.  Tricky, tricky wifey (Disclaimer: I am not a food critic.  I don’t pretend to be one, and I don’t want to be one. So none of this is meant to be taken seriously.)

To make an already long blog a little bit shorter, let me just say that the food, wine, service and decor made for a crazy good meal.  Seriously. Why had I never been to this place before??  But above all of those things (which to a large degree are aesthetic), I felt like the food that I was eating was cared for.  That each element was important, and that nothing was an afterthought.  To put it shortly - respected ingredients make for respected dishes.  And ultimately here's what I like about places like Chives (and if you know where to look, there are a few of them) is their emphasis on supporting local and sustainable food whenever possible.  Sure, that means a little bit of extra work on behalf of the Chef and his staff, but as a food consumer it makes me feel appreciated and valued to know that someone cares enough about what they're feeding me, and cares enough about our local economy to put in that extra work.

So without completing a PhD thesis on the benefits of eating locally (think economic, environmental and physical folks), it makes a heck of a whole lot of sense to find out where local food is being produced, what retailers are selling local food, and which restaurants are buying local food.

Because there's a lot of crappy stuff in our environment, and every good decision helps.  So I'll take my food free range, and I'll leave the fillers to the anti wrinkle creams.